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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28532781">Sometimes, the cold isn't so bad.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/CristalDePhoenix/pseuds/CristalDePhoenix'>CristalDePhoenix</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mass Effect Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action/Adventure, F/M, Frozen Noveria, Mild Language, Pre-Relationship, Some hot and bothered moments, blurted confessions</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 21:48:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,837</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28532781</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/CristalDePhoenix/pseuds/CristalDePhoenix</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The end of the Noveria mission leaves Shepard in a dilemma. How do you save the survivors when you have no radio contact with the outside, but just one Mako?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>MEFFW Secret Santa Exchange 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Sometimes, the cold isn't so bad.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelticGrace/gifts">CelticGrace</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I hope you enjoy this CelticGrace. Off the prompt "oh no we're trapped in a cabin/cave/location of choice during a snowstorm". I left FemShep's description ambiguous so you could fill in whatever Shepard you prefer.</p><p>The first half was written on my phone, and it has not been beta'd. All mistakes are my own, but characters belong to BioWare. I hope the longer story makes up for the late post. Happy Secret Santa!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Look, we can't all fit in the mako, and there is a blizzard out so they can't walk and be escorted back. We'll drive back and get them to send a personnel transport for the survivors."</p><p> </p><p>"But Shepard, we can't leave them here like this either. The guards are all exhausted from constant watch duty with the Rachni, someone needs to stay behind to help defend them from any stragglers that the neutron purge didn't get. Not to mention if there are any Geth left either." Garrus argued back. This back and forth has been going on for more than ten minutes now and they have yet to come up with a solution. </p><p> </p><p>The surviving workers and scientists from Peak 15 were now free of the Rachni and Geth, or mostly, but they were still trapped in the blizzard, which was also the reason they couldn't radio for a rescue team to pick up the survivors. Liara sat quietly looking on, fighting back tears, not really in the right headspace to help think up a solution. Shepard couldn't blame her either, but it did give her an idea.</p><p> </p><p>"Ok, then how about a compromise. We leave you here to help defend the survivors, and Liara comes with me to go get the transports." It made sense. He was the best shot on the squad, so best defence for the people and a fresh pair of eyes for guard duty. While Liara might be a great biotic, was grieving her mother she had to help kill and could not save, and her defensive capabilities were questionable as a result. And she herself needed to go to throw her Spectre authority around in port or else the rescue would take ages with the corporate red tape and inaction.</p><p> </p><p>This gave Garrus pause as he thought this through and Shepard thought they might finally have a solution when he shook his head. "No, Liara can't work the guns on the mako, and neither could she drive in her current state. What if there are still Geth on the road back to Port Hanshan? You can't drive that brick the Alliance calls a tank through a storm and try and shoot moving Geth with the turret. You'd drive right off the cliff. You nearly did <em> with </em> me on the guns already. "</p><p> </p><p>Shepard deflated with a growl of frustration, scrubbing her face with her gloved hands. It was cold too, her face just not numb enough to not feel the cold gloves. Even with the generator back up, there was a chill in the air. Perhaps it took a while more to warm up everywhere. Or maybe it was just the garage that was this cold.</p><p> </p><p>She paced back and forth a bit, thinking. Garrus sat on a crate, one hand on his chin, doing the same. He gave a small shiver that did not escape her notice. He'd been vocal about the cold the entire trip, yet still came with her when asked. She just hoped he wasn't getting the Turian equivalent of frostbite already.</p><p> </p><p>The alternative would be to take Garrus with her and leave Liara to defend the survivors, but that left them with the same problem. Liara was not in the right mind to be expected to defend others. Heck, a month ago she was just a civilian scientist who only had to worry about her own safety on a remote Prothean dig site.</p><p> </p><p>The silence stretched on for a few minutes, only broken by the booted footsteps of Shepard's pacing. The survivors were left in the cosier AI core and entry hall while Shepard's team tried to come up with a plan of extraction. Some had to be brought in by stretcher, so no way the Mako was transporting them. But they also couldn't leave them there since there might still be a few Rachni or Geth.</p><p> </p><p>With a deep sigh, Liara got up. "M...Might I make a suggestion? I can stay behind and help defend the survivors. You two go ahead and get a rescue party from Port Hanshan."</p><p> </p><p>They both turned to her with similar disbelieving faces, but Shepard was the one to speak up first. “Are you sure you’re ok to do that right now?” Worry and sympathy were as clear in her voice as it was on her face. Garrus looked similarly concerned for their friend, but let the Commander do the talking. </p><p> </p><p>Liara took a deep calming breath and centred herself. “Yes, I am. There will be time for grieving when we are all safe. You can count on me, Shepard.”</p><p> </p><p>They both turned to each other again, and this time it was Garrus that gave a slow nod of agreement. If Liara said she would be good to defend the survivors, then she meant it. With a deep, resigned sigh, Shepard nodded her agreement in return. She had been starting to do this more often, using Garrus as a sounding board for her ideas. They just… got along really well.</p><p> </p><p>"Ok, but we will try to be quick. Garrus, help Liara and the guards set up a new defensible position, I'll do checks on the Mako. Liara, if you think you'll need anything, now's the time to speak up. Once we are gone we can't just turn back for some spare omnigel." It was meant as a joke, but Shepard still left an extra few packs of everything they had enough off. These people might need it more.</p><p> </p><p>When the new defences were set up, with as many spares and supplies as she'd dare, she and Garrus got back in the Mako. It wasn't particularly warm in it, but it was a fair bit warmer than outside. As in not freezing. Though she wondered if Garrus would agree since he seemed to always hide a shiver when he thought she was not looking. So the faster they get back to the port the better for all.</p><p> </p><p>And if she never had to come to this frozen bureaucratic hell hole again, it would be too soon.</p><p> </p><p>They set off at a reasonable pace for the storm raging outside. They wanted to hurry, but not be reckless either. Or at least she wasn’t trying to, but the near whiteout conditions weren’t helping. The cockpit was silent as they travelled, concentrating too hard on the road in front of them. She could see Garrus holding tight to the gun controls while peering into the white mass outside for all that he was worth. Once or twice, he would call out the edge of the cliff to her when they got close, but no Geth thus far. If they kept this up, they would be there soon.</p><p> </p><p>Alas, she spoke too soon. A red blip appeared on their radar. “Geth at 10 o’clock!” Garrus called out at the same time, guns whirring to the ready as he moved them to take aim. A large explosion rocked the side of the tank. Not a hit but a close enough call that the tank was running on three of its six tyres for a few seconds. Shepard drove for all that she was worth, while Garrus still managed to shoot the guns while sideways. Some colourful swearing on her part kept her sane as she righted the tank with a big bounce. </p><p> </p><p>She heard Garrus hit something in the bounce, but he kept right at it, shooting the main gun, interspersed by the machine guns. “Is it dead yet?!” She asks since she couldn’t see squat out her window, even having a hard time to realise just how close to the edge they were.</p><p> </p><p>“If I can get a clear shot with this brick on springs, it would be!” Garrus retorted back. True enough, as she glanced at the radar, the red blip was still there. Another explosion to the side of the tank reinforced the idea that it was a rocket trooper. Blasted storm! </p><p> </p><p>“If I could just see the damn thing, I’d run it over too, you know?!” A grunt was her only reply, as she took a sharp turn to avoid yet another close call. Finally, she was able to stop the tank for the second it took Garrus to aim and fire the main gun right in the Geth’s face. The last rocket it fired going way over them.</p><p> </p><p>“Ha, how do you like me now?!” Came Garrus’ triumphant crow.</p><p> </p><p>“Took you long enough, Mr Perfect Sniper.” Shepard retorted, and he was about to snipe her back with something about her driving, she was sure, but several warnings started blaring at them from the console.</p><p> </p><p>“What’s going on Shepard?” Garrus asked from his seat at the guns.</p><p> </p><p>Shepard quickly activated the screens to display what the warnings were, and she turned as white as the storm outside at the realisation. “Avalanche incoming, brace yourself!” She yelled as she kicked the tank in gear and floored it. It was their only way to survive, was to outrun the side of the avalanche or make it to one of the tunnels. On this narrow ledge, they would be swept away down the cliff to their doom.</p><p> </p><p>Garrus just held on to his restraints as tightly as he could. Not much else he could do really as the tank lurched to life beneath them. They started to hear the rumble of the avalanche even over the heavy drone of the tank’s engines. Looking out of his viewport, Garrus could even start to make it out through the storm. It was too close, they weren’t going to make it to safety. “Shepard! It’s coming!” A hint of fear creeping into his subvocals.</p><p> </p><p>“I know! Keep your hat on Vakarian!” She yelled as she took a turn in the road, throwing them both to the edge of their seats, kept only in place by the restraints. They could hear the tank being buffeted by the first big snowballs, and Shepard was slowly losing traction on the rear tyres. “Come on! Come on, Mako baby! You can do it!”</p><p> </p><p>The rear of the tank was slowly being pushed off the side of the cliff and nothing Shepard did was changing that. “Hold on Garrus, we’re going over!”</p><p> </p><p>“ShepaaaAAARD!” Was all she could hear over the rumble of the avalanche as the full brunt of it hit them, and they followed it over the edge of the cliff, tumbling end over end. She couldn’t believe it. Of all the ways she thought she was going to die in this profession, death by avalanche was not even on the top 20 list. She hit her head on the console and everything went mercifully black afterwards.</p><p> </p><p>=========================================================</p><p> </p><p>A distant noise started to bring her back to the land of wakefulness, followed by radiating pain from her arm, shoulder and head.</p><p> </p><p>“...-ard?”</p><p> </p><p>There it was again, more urgent this time. She groaned a response, moving made the pain more evident.</p><p> </p><p>“...epard?!..... -u ok?” The voice was sounding near panicked now. Familiar though, with a wonderful timber and reverberation she could almost feel as much as hear. She groaned a bit more as she tried to open her eyes. There was a blinking red light on the console, and the emergency lights were on. Wherever they were. It was still too blurry to make out enough details.</p><p> </p><p>“Shepard?! Are you ok up there?!” Oh, it was Garrus. She thought it sounded familiar. Now why was he so worried about her, and where were they that he was antsy? He was always cool under fire. </p><p> </p><p>“I’m here. Keep your shirt on and pipe down a bit will ya? I got a mammoth migraine.” She groaned some more as she touched her head. That smarts. Her hand was sticky wet as she pulled it away, and looking at it in the dim light revealed it was blood. Great, that explained the headache and disorientation. Probably a mild concussion too.</p><p> </p><p>“Thank the Spirits you’re alive. Think you can get up and help me? My restraints won’t come loose.” Her vision began to focus more, but wouldn’t quite focus clearly yet. Definitely a concussion. She moved carefully and winched as her arm pulled at the restraints. They must have taken a good tumble if the restraints hurt her that much. It also explained the pain in her one shoulder and arm.</p><p>“Give me a minute. I got pretty tossed around in here. How you looking?” She asked as her uninjured arm groped for the quick release. She found and released it at last. Getting up she bumped a knee on an already sore spot, prompting more colourful swear words from her. The cabin was also slightly tilted, and the window was dark. Both odd and worrying.</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. Your Alliance didn’t exactly design the gunnery seat with Turians in mind. Got a little banged around here as we fell off the cliff. Luckily we seem to have survived the avalanche somehow.” She followed the sound of his voice until she came to the gunnery seat with a very unimpressed looking Turian in it. There was a bruise on his head where he got knocked around as he said, but nothing looked major to her blurry eyes. Then again, she couldn’t see if there were any injuries below his armour. At least nothing looked broken.</p><p> </p><p>The mention of a cliff and avalanche jarred her memory again. Right. They were heading to port Hanshan, ran into a Geth Rocket Trooper in the middle of a blizzard and then were unable to outrun the avalanche. It’s a miracle they weren’t dead. “Yeah? Well, you don’t look worse for wear.” She said as she reached up to undo the stuck restraints. Failing in getting it to cooperate, she grunted in frustration and just pulled out her combat knife and cut the restraints off of Garrus.</p><p> </p><p>Once freed, Garrus carefully moved out of his seat onto the slightly tilted floor. “Thanks, Shepard. Looks like you took the worst of it. Think I need to scan that head injury, just to be safe. We have enough medigel and field medical equipment here to take care of a concussion.” Garrus moved not with his normal grace, meaning he too got some injuries to his extremities that she couldn’t see. </p><p> </p><p>“You need a scan too, Garrus. I don’t know Turian physiology enough to say if that bump on the head is a concussion for you or not.”</p><p> </p><p>The bright light of his omnitool nearly blinded them both before he turned down the brightness. “Please Shepard. Unlike you humans, we Turians actually have a bit sturdier construction.” He teased as he scanned her.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, Yeah. Laugh at the squishy humans. We can’t all have freakish exoskeletons protecting us. I’m alive here with you, aren’t I?” They both chuckled as he took a look at the results.</p><p> </p><p>“Case in point, Shepard.  You have a concussion, dislocated shoulder and several bruises. Also, your head is still bleeding from the blow. Best we tend to it now.” Garrus turned away to the compartment under the seats that holds the medical kit. At least it was secured and not flying around the cabin too.</p><p> </p><p>“You aren’t getting out of your check-up that easy, Mr hard-ass.” She opened her own tool, and after adjusting the too bright display on her own ‘tool, set about doing a quick scan of her friend and squadmate. With a happy beep, his results came back.</p><p> </p><p>“Any worse than you?” Garrus asked with humour in his subvocals. She wasn’t sure when, but the more she talked to Garrus, the more she learned the finer nuances of their voices. What they lacked in facial expressions, they made up for in their secondary voicebox.</p><p> </p><p>“Nope, lucky bastard. Just some bruises your suit’s medigel dispenser can handle.” She said as he put the medical kit down next to the seat.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh lucky me indeed. Now come here so we can clean up that cut on your head, please Commander.” He quickly activated his suit's medigel dispenser, then patted the seat he was kneeling next to.</p><p> </p><p>With a sigh, Shepard went to take a seat. Not that she really needed any motivation to do so. After a tough fight with Matriarch Benezia, the Geth and the Rachni, she had to get thrown around like clothing in a tumble dryer. It also wouldn’t be the first time Garrus helped patch up some of her wounds. His C-Sec training gave him basic first aid for all Council races and it has been invaluable in the field. </p><p> </p><p>As always, Garrus worked with care and attention to detail as he cleaned her head wound before he covered it in medigel to seal it. After that was the pleasant experience of resetting her shoulder. He checked that she was ready, and with a sudden push and painful grunt from her, her shoulder was back in its socket. He quickly got out the sling in the medical kit bag, and strapped in her shoulder, then activated the painkillers to be released in her suits medical suite.</p><p> </p><p>“There you go. All patched up and ready for Chakwas to yell at you for getting shot up again so quickly after your last visit.” She swatted his shoulder in retaliation, not that he could feel much through his armour and he chuckled at her.</p><p> </p><p>“The thanks I get.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, big guy. Let's go out and see what the damage is to the Mako. Maybe we can still drive outa here to port.” As she got up and headed for the hatch.</p><p> </p><p>“You think the Mako will just shrug off a fall off a cliff and drive on home to port?” Disbelieve underlining his words.</p><p> </p><p>“We <em> could </em> be that lucky.” She shrugged with one shoulder before she hit the command to open the hatch. Only it didn’t open. A big red warning light came up, indicating a malfunction. This prompted Shepard to try and kick the door open instead, to no avail. “Oh come on!”</p><p> </p><p>“Temper temper, Shepard. You won’t get the door to move like that” He chided while moving her out of the way, opening up the diagnostic tool to check where the problem lay. The results were not encouraging.</p><p> </p><p>“Ah…” He sounded a little less sure about the situation than he did a minute ago, which was odd since Garrus could fix nearly anything, surpassed only by Tali in the engineering department.</p><p> </p><p>“What do you mean ‘Ah’?” She came to peer over his shoulder in the near dark of the emergency lights. She was so close she could hear Garrus swallow down some nerves.</p><p> </p><p>“The mechanism is a little busted, nothing I can’t fix...”</p><p> </p><p>“But?” She prompted.</p><p> </p><p>“But, it’s not the mechanism that’s the big problem. The sensors say there is a weight on the door keeping it from opening.” He pointed to the sensor reading for her. “Hope you’re not claustrophobic.” He said more as a joke.</p><p> </p><p>“Aww shit. We’re snowed in! No wonder I couldn’t see anything out the front window. We better look at our supplies and options for rescue.” Garrus groaned in response.</p><p> </p><p>“Rescue? In the middle of a Novarian blizzard at the bottom of a ravine under at least a ton of snow? We couldn’t radio for help before, I doubt we can now. We were supposed to send the rescue team for the survivors.” He scoffed at the words. “Some rescue we turned out to be. Needing to be rescued.”</p><p> </p><p>Shepard gave a humourless laugh in return while going through their emergency supplies, which were much less since they gave the majority to the survivors that needed it more at the time. “Yeah. Guess no radio then. We still got the emergency beacon. We can turn that on in hopes someone passes by on the road above us. We got about three days rations for both of us and bottled water for five.”</p><p> </p><p>“How are we on energy reserves though? We might not starve to death, but if the environmental systems fail, we’ll slowly suffocate or freeze to death. Not sure which I’d prefer honestly.” Garrus gave an involuntary shiver at the thought.</p><p> </p><p>While Garrus checked the status of the rest of the systems, Shepard pulled out the emergency blankets and winter clothing. “We won’t freeze before the storm is over. The Mako was fully fueled when we left port. That leaves enough energy to idle the engine and produce heat for us for a day on end. Then we still have the mass effect core that can power the heaters. Those should last us a week. Then we got these and our suit heating units and we can share body heat if need be. The air will be our biggest problem. Between our suits and the Mako’s air supply, we should be fine for a few days. Hopefully, the storm passes by, by then and we can get a signal off to the Normandy.” </p><p> </p><p>Though Shapard was going through their options casually, she couldn’t help but worry that it wouldn’t be enough even as she turned on the emergency beacon. Novaria is notorious for its blizzards lasting days if not more than a week on end. The thought of being stuck with Garrus in the Mako for a week wasn’t a bad one, in fact, it was the opposite. Of all her crew, she got along best with the alien members; and of them, she had the closest friendship with Garrus. Sharing body heat with him though to survive… She suppressed a blush at the thought.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeaah, forgive me for not sounding enthusiastic at the prospect. Turians hate the cold. Did I ever mention that Shepard?” he looked at her in what appeared to be a sarcastic face. Hard to say in the dark of the emergency lights.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, you have been very vocal about this fact. So much in fact, that if Wrex was with us he’d have tried to shut you up with the back end of his shotgun by now.” She looked on with a shit-eating grin. They held it together for all of ten seconds before bursting out laughing.</p><p> </p><p>When they both calmed down again, Shepard got serious. “Seriously though, you got to tell me if you are too cold. I don’t want you to get the Turian version of hypothermia.”</p><p> </p><p>With a smile in return, he answered. “Don’t worry Commander. I will.”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, guess we better get comfortable.” And Shepard let out a big yawn. The long and arduous day catching up to her. “Mind if I just… Catch a nap” while saying this, she clambered onto the seats, making it a makeshift bed.</p><p> </p><p>“No Commander! You shouldn't sleep right now!” Garrus jumped at her and pulled her upright.</p><p> </p><p>“Huh-What? Why?” She asked indignantly. She was damn tired, why couldn’t he let her sleep?</p><p> </p><p>“Because of your concussion. I’ve done what I can for you here, but you need to stay awake until the worst of the swelling on your brain and optic nerve has gone down some.”</p><p> </p><p>“Aw shit… All right then. I hope you brought some cards or something. It’s gonna be a hell of a time staying awake if there isn’t something to do-” She had barely finished her sentence when the emergency lights flickered out. The cabin was deathly quiet for a split second until Garrus turned on his muted omnitool light.</p><p> </p><p>“What just happened? Why did the mako lose power?” Garrus was typing away at his diagnostic tool for answers as Shepard asked the questions.</p><p> </p><p>“Looks like the Mako did take some damage from those rocket blasts and the tumble over the cliff after all. The fuel leaked out and the engine is cracked, and that’s just the start. Mass effect engine is offline and that was the last of the backup power. Unless you have a spare battery for the Mako, it’s going to get very cold here soon and the storm is still going outside, in case you were wondering.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh for the love of…. It doesn’t rain, it pours, right. We do have a spare battery, but that’s all I can offer.” She pulled out one of the normal flashlights so she could hang it up to light the whole cabin a bit, then went to dig out the spare battery they kept in with the tools.</p><p> </p><p>“It doesn’t rain? Shepard, we are in a blizzard. I’d be thankful for rain instead.” The look she gave him answered that one. Another of those human sayings he has yet to get a handle on. “Well, that should keep us warm for a bit and keep the air recyclers going. But what about after?” Concern evident in his voice.</p><p> </p><p>“We’ll think of something by then. Here, you love working on the Mako right. Why don’t you change out the battery? My arm is a little screwed right now.” It wasn’t much reassurance, but it was all she had right now. They’ll think of something. They always do.</p><p> </p><p>Garrus didn’t even rise to the bait and just got to work. It worried her even more. Luckily the beacon had its own power source. Soon though they had emergency lights again and she could feel the heating units kick back on. Which was good, since their suits were almost out of power keeping them warm during the mission already.</p><p> </p><p>“I.. uh. Got this game on my ‘tool, if you want to pass the time that way.” He opened up and showed her it was the Turian omnitool version of Battleships.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, this will work.”</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>==========================================================</p><p> </p><p>They were sitting back to back, playing their Battleships for hours now. It was getting harder to stay awake and Garrus was resorting to poking her awake from time to time. When Garrus sunk yet another of her cruisers, she threw up her arms in frustration and defeat.</p><p> </p><p>“I give up! How are you so good at this game. We’ve been at it for hours and I have yet to win one game with you! Not one!” She got up and paced some to stay warm. They turned the heat down to the minimum they dared to make the battery last longer.</p><p> </p><p>“What, The Commander Shepard, first Human Spectre, is giving up on a war game? I didn’t think you had it in you.” He teased but pulled a blanket closer nonetheless.</p><p> </p><p>“How do you know just where my ships are every single time? You blast my fleet apart before I can do much damage to yours.” Some more pacing and rubbing her arms. Little puffs of fog as she goes.</p><p> </p><p>“Standard Turian military tactics actually. You follow formations way too often. Once I find one ship, the others are placed in a pattern around or close to it.”</p><p> </p><p>Shepard stopped pacing and looked up with realisation. “Blast apart…” she mumbles and looks up to the gunnery seat, then quickly back at Garrus. “Garrus, think you can get the guns to fire?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, I could, but I don’t see what good it would do us, why?” He looked up, now wrapped up in the blanket so only his face pokes out. It was almost comical if she didn’t just have an idea that could get them out of the snow.  </p><p> </p><p>“We could shoot our way out of the snow! I doubt we are under hundreds of meters of snow, so we could shoot up to clear our way to the surface so we can climb out.” She declared triumphantly. </p><p> </p><p>Garrus mulled this over for a bit, then shook his head. “Sorry Shepard, it might work, but we still won’t get the door open to climb out. And that is if the snow doesn’t just cave right back in on top of us. Besides. We don’t want to climb out of the snow while there is a blizzard out. Survival 101. It’s slightly warmer <em> in </em> the snow and no windchill factor, than outside of it.”</p><p> </p><p>“Then we blast our way out and see when the storm ends before we crawl out. Simple. And the door? Just turn the turret enough to blow a pocket of snow away by the door so we can open it manually.” She started to shiver from standing still and started to pace again.</p><p> </p><p>This really made Garrus think for a bit. “You know, your crazy idea might actually work Shepard.” And he reluctantly got up, blanket and all, and shuffled to the gunnery seat. “We got enough power for just a few shots though, so let's hope we aren’t under more than 10 meters of snow.”</p><p> </p><p>Pretty soon there was the noise of the cannon starting up and blasts as Garrus shot at the compacted snow around them. True enough, in three blasts they could see light at the top, even if it was still howling blizzard. Then Garrus turned the guns and blasted the side closest to the door. When they put the door on manual and unlocked it, the door moved and frigidly cold but fresh air seeped in. Garrus promptly closed the door again and shivered, while Shepard jumped up with joy.</p><p> </p><p>“We did it Garrus! We can get out!” She turned and hugged him, swaddled in blankets as he was, and kissed his chin, since she was too short to reach his lips without him bending down. She was still jumping for joy while he was stunned into silence, and it took a few seconds for her to realise just what she did. Garrus touched his chin almost reverently as she did a silent ‘Oh shit’. Did she just ruin their friendship with her mild infatuation? Brought out by joy that they were going to survive and head trauma?</p><p> </p><p>An apology was forming on her lips when Garrus spoke first. “Do… Do you really feel that way? About me I mean?” His eyes were almost hopeful when he looked at her and her first instinct was to deny it and run. But those eyes. It captured her with such an intensity that she could do nothing but look back. He was her friend, and he deserved the truth. To deny him now would be like kicking his puppy.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, Garrus. I.. I didn’t know how to approach it. We were always busy running from one mission to the next after Saren, and I didn’t want to make things awkward if you didn’t feel the same.” She blurted out finally. For all her confidence as a leader and a soldier, this area of life always eluded her. Sure, she had one night stands before, but she didn’t want that with Garrus, so she settled for friendship since they got along so well.</p><p> </p><p>“I.. I never even considered, with a human,... I mean I have before, but never with you Shepard. No, I mean I have but never thought you’d be interested in someone like me. In that way-” Shepard shut him up by pulling him down for a kiss. His awkwardness was adorable, but the fact that he even had thought about her as more than just a friend; it meant the world to her. Garrus slowly and carefully let his hands come to rest on her hips, and the kiss got more and more heated.</p><p> </p><p>Garrus was a quick study, as always, when he put his mind to something; and kissing was no different. When her tongue came out to join his, he took it in stride, learning what she liked and what she didn’t. His taste was exotic and intoxicating all at once. Some kind of spice she could not name, but that she instantly wanted more of. They both moved over to the benches and slowly started to lose pieces of armour along the way, each having helped the other with unfamiliar latches on field patches before, until they were just in their undersuits. When she came up for breath and looked at Garrus’ eyes in the dark, they were barely more than blown up pupils with a sliver of silver-blue around the edges. Her own probably looked the same as she huffed out puffs of smoke between them. The bonus was, they weren’t cold any more. </p><p> </p><p>Garrus gently pushed Shepard down onto the bench, but then stepped away. She was just about to protest or ask if he didn’t want to when he returned with the blankets. Oh yeah. If they completely undress, it would be really cold real fast again. The light was catching his body in such a silhouette with the skintight undersuit, that it left little to the imagination. Even though his form was uniquely alien to her in nearly all aspects, it was alluring not because of this fact, but because this was Garrus. Her best friend. As her eyes roved over his form, just as she was sure he was doing to her, she noted something bulging in his pants. The sight of an aroused Garrus hovering over her like a predator made her stomach clench in delicious ways and she was probably soaking her underwear right now. By the way his nose twitched, he could probably already smell her.</p><p> </p><p>The comm suddenly came to life with a static-filled voice that made them both jump like teens being caught by their parents. “Comma-...-you read me? Thi-...-Come-...-Damit, where are -” It was Joker. The storm must have lifted enough for a signal to come through. They looked at each other, eyes still blown with lust, breaths still coming out in huffs. If they answer that call now, this was over. For now. Shepard was torn with the decision when Garrus made it for her. He nodded respectfully and stepped to the side, allowing her to get to the comm. Damn him and his Turian honour. The mission always comes first. Reluctantly she got up and moved to the console, Garrus’ eyes following her like a hawk. Her own bodysuit left little to the imagination, giving him a good view. It must have been as much torture to him to step aside and let her go as it was for her to get up and go answer the comm.</p><p> </p><p>She did it though, but not before looking back at Garrus. This was not finished. They would continue this, she promised with her eyes. He gave an almost imperceptible nod before she turned to the comm, attempting to clear up the signal. “Joker? We’re here, can you read me?”</p><p> </p><p>It still had some static, but she could finally hear all of what Joker was saying. “Oh thank.. Shepard! Where have you guys been?! We’ve reached Liara and the survivors on radio and they said you guys left hours ago to get them a rescue transport. What happened? Where are you?”</p><p> </p><p>She chuckled at his typical response. “I don’t think you would believe me if I told you, but it would be nice to get out of the bottom of a ravine under an avalanche.”</p><p> </p><p>“You WHAT?!”</p><p> </p><p>Sometimes, being stuck in a snowstorm wasn't so bad.</p>
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